Paper and presentation

A miller’s approach to corporate social responsibility

In the same manner that society has an obligation to act in the best interest of its

members; corporations as citizens are expected to mimic our social responsibility. In the

business world the term corporate social responsibility refers to businesses “doing the right

thing” towards society. As defined by The World Business Council for Sustainable

Development "Corporate Social Responsibility is the continuing commitment by business to

behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of

the workforce and their families as well as of the local community and society at large". 1 At

General Mills, the concept of corporate social responsibility has existed since its humble

beginnings as the Washburn Crosby Company, a flour mill. General Mills is a leader in corporate

social responsibility.

A culture of corporate social responsibility was born out of the moral fiber of

Cadwallader Washburn, who established a fund to help the victims of an explosion at one of its

mills, over 125 years ago. The fund helped the families left behind by the deceased workers,

created safer working environments and established an orphanage to serve children of any race,

sex, or age. 2 Over the years and through a few mergers, the Washburn Crosby Company

became known as General Mills. The corporate mission statement of General Mills is to nourish

lives. The chief executive officer of General Mills, Ken Powell, states, in the company’s

website, that to fulfill the mission they must make substantial contributions to society and to the

environment that sustains our lives. 3 In respect to the company’s corporate social responsibility,

General Mills has three areas of concentration, which are health, social and the environment.

These three areas comprise the core of its corporate social responsibility, which reflects its

corporate mission. The three areas have expectations of its own and General Mills is pleased

with the outcomes in each sector. The company has donated almost 87 million dollars

throughout the world in order to meet its corporate social responsibility goal.

In the health arena, General Mills improved the health profile of many its products. The

product improvements yielded a healthier product and a healthier consumer. In 2005, General

Mills set a goal of improving its products health content by 40% by the year 2010. In 2008, the

company met the goal, now they have set a new goal of 45% by 2010. 4 General Mills realized

that as a whole the United States consumer was not eating enough whole grains and fiber,

especially children. General Mills reformulated its non whole grain cereals to be made of whole

grains and added more vitamins and minerals. The reformulation, also, included reducing the

sugar content in each cereal; thus, the common breakfast food from General Mills is now a

healthier product. Another health concern was the salt and fat levels in many of its products.

After some research and development, they were able to reduce the sodium and fat contents of its

biscuit products and other products. Additionally, General Mills repackaged many of its snack

products into 100 calorie servings.

Education is, also, a factor in improving the health of consumers. General Mills’

corporate social responsibility to make consumers healthier includes marketing weight loss

products that are tied into educating the consumer of the benefits of a healthier eating habit. The

products packaging were redesigned to include healthy messages on the box. The team involved

in the research met with weight loss industry leaders to find ways to market the products to the

consumer in need of weight loss products. They learned that people eat with their eyes and noses

so General Mills realized that the products had to be visually and aromatically appeasing to the

consumer. The Progresso Light brand is the perfect example, that brand was developed by a

senior research scientist that was obese. 5

On a social level, General Mills’ corporate social responsibility has integrated the

consumer through the use of cause-marketing initiatives. It has several social programs that

requires the consumer’s interaction. They have social programs that raise funds for schools,

medical research, and community agencies. The consumer’s interaction is very beneficial

because it educates the consumer and fosters a “feel good about yourself” attitude. The company

also supports programs that targets minority ethnicities, helps disaster victims, and promotes

high employee values.

Through the “Box Top for Education” program schools can earn up to 60 thousand

dollars by clipping box top labels, shopping at box top marketplaces, and shopping at The

Reading Room, a shopping website through Barnes & Noble. The medical research industry has

benefited by General Mills support for breast cancer research. The yogurt brand Yoplait, is the

brand that supports the research funding. The company has pledged $2 million to the Susan G.

Komen for the Cure organization. 6 The marketing initiative used involves the consumer in

different ways; one method requires making a connection [a posting of a story/comment on the

website] another method is sending in lids from the yogurt containers. These efforts bring more

consumer involvement through the rippling effect. For instance, there will be one person that

does it because they have been victimized by cancer in some form, and they tell someone and

they start doing it; the cycle repeats itself and pretty soon there is a wave of “connections” or lids

that generate funds for the cause. The company sponsors two programs that help feed the

nations hungry. The first one is the Pillsbury “Home is Calling” which helps deliver pounds of

food for every link of the “Home is Calling” advertisement that was forwarded from their

website. The other program benefits the hungry and the overweight; the program consists of

General Mills donating 10 cents to Feeding America for every pound that a member loses. The

member is someone that pledged to lose weight and keeps track of it on the website. The donated

money can actually provide a pound of groceries to a local food bank.

The company provides financial assistance to minority communities and worldwide

social programs. In the United States, one such program is Feeding Dreams and its Latino

counterpart, Project Sueño, which assisted African-American and Latino communities with

grants and scholarships. They help rural businesses by going into certain markets and

remodeling the stores. The company promotes food donations at university kitchens by teaching

them how to be creative in recycling their unused foods and donating them to local “feed the

hungry” programs. The company works worldwide to combat hunger, to educate, and provide

assistance in disaster declared areas. In Africa, it is helping them feed themselves; it is educating

farmers worldwide to farm more efficiently. During disasters its employees worldwide unite to

provide assistance to the victims. Finally, in the social area, General Mills’ Code of Conduct

establishes its standards of high ethical behavior in the workplace. The code communicates the

values of the corporation and the expected behavior of each employee. It depends on

understanding the values and principles of those who have a stake in, or are affected by, its

operation. 7 The company has established an Ethic Line which employees worldwide could call

and state the concern or question.

In regards to the environment, General Mills is very conscious of its environmental

footprint. It strives for improving performance. The company has tools in place to reduce

energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, solid waste generation and water usage. 8 The

company is struggling with energy consumption and gas emissions reductions but is on target

with the solid waste and water reduction expectations. The company is working with its

suppliers to be able to produce more vegetation with fewer natural resources. The company’s

scientists are developing methods of seed breeding to produce a better tasting product with fewer

resources. The history behind the Green Giant name is that the peas were larger with the

research that was done in improving that product. The researchers are using the same philosophy

to promote a better seedling. Currently, they have seen major improvements in the production of

many vegetables. 9

In general terms, the definition of corporate social responsibility is being a good

corporate citizen by helping your “neighbors” and those in need. General Mills corporate social

responsibility policy establishes the means and the tools to be one of the best corporate citizens

in the world. The company’s corporate social responsibility profile is divided into three areas:

health, social, and environment. The company strives to make us a healthier product by

increasing vitamins, minerals and grains in its product and by reducing its content of sugars, fats

and sodium. The company’s policy on corporate social responsibility shares the responsibility

with the consumers by involving the consumer in the process of good citizenship. The

environment is benefiting from General Mills’ movement because it is working rigorously on

improving production while using fewer natural resources.

General Mills is the ideal corporate citizen because it uses its financial and notability

resources for the greater good of its domestic and global neighbor/consumer. The corporate

social responsibility of General Mills is in a direct relationship with its corporate mission of

“Nourishing Lives”; as it nourishes lives through its products and its corporate social

responsibility philosophy.

Bibliography

1 Lord Holme and Richard Watts, ."Making Good Business Sense", The World Business

Council for Sustainable Development, January 2000, 8.

2 General Mills: Corporate Social Responsibility. http://www.generalmills.com (accessed

October 1, 2009), 1

3 General Mills: Corporate Social Responsibility. http://www.generalmills.com (accessed

October 1, 2009),19 4 General Mills: Corporate Social Responsibility. http://www.generalmills.com (accessed

October 1, 2009),4 5 General Mills: Corporate Social Responsibility. http://www.generalmills.com (accessed

October 1, 2009), 8 6 General Mills: Corporate Social Responsibility. http://www.generalmills.com (accessed

October 1, 2009), 22

7 Lord Holme and Richard Watts, ."Making Good Business Sense", The World Business Council for Sustainable Development. (January 2000), 3 8 General Mills: Corporate Social Responsibility. http://www.generalmills.com (accessed

October 1, 2009), 42 9 General Mills: Corporate Social Responsibility. http://www.generalmills.com (accessed

October 1, 2009), 44

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